


And the Walls Come Tumbling Down

by TheExplodingPen



Series: what's mine is yours to make your own [5]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: American Sign Language, Canon Disabled Character, Cuddling & Snuggling, Deaf Clint Barton, Dom/sub, Emotions, M/M, Oral Sex, Slice of Life, dom!Clint, sub!Pietro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 12:25:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10990899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheExplodingPen/pseuds/TheExplodingPen
Summary: Sometimes, their missions go to shit.





	And the Walls Come Tumbling Down

Sometimes, their missions go to shit.

It happens, and they deal with it, but some missions are worse fuck-ups than others. The most recent one has been one of those: there were civilian casualties, the bad guy escaped, and due to a massive explosion, Clint can’t hear a damn thing.

His hearing aids are in a pile of rubble in San Diego and the doctors that checked him out against his will after the fight won’t give him another set until he’s healed up a little more. And it’s not like Clint is in danger in the Tower (or like his teammates don’t know what it means when he focuses a little too hard on their lips), or even like he doesn’t take the contraptions out pretty routinely when he’s just lounging around because being able to turn off the sound of Tony Stark is a unique privilege that he never intends to waste. But choosing to bask in soothing silence is different than not having the option at all. And not having the option is unnerving.

The team notices, but they don’t do anything other than turn their bodies a little to make it easier for Clint to read their lips and keep up on the conversation. Nat knows, and Clint tells Steve so that he doesn’t become a liability on their next mission. But other than that, Clint doesn’t bring it up to anyone - including Pietro.

It’s stupid, and he knows it. He’s even pretty sure the kid has noticed his hearing aids before, because Pietro’s not _stupid_ , and he’s not oblivious, but Clint’s had a couple of relationships like the one he has with Pietro, and he’s had a number of those end badly because his submissive found out that Clint’s _damaged_.

The word ricochets around in his mind for a few hours after the post-mission debrief. . He’s heard it one too many times, and thought it more than that, even though nowadays he’ll laugh at anyone who suggests he’s at anything less than the top of his game. It’s a disability, not a death sentence, but it’s still taken Clint a few years to get to where he understands that.

So he doesn’t bring it up, and just doesn’t go looking for Pietro. In a few days, he’ll be able to get his hearing aids back, and then it won’t matter anymore, so it’s not even a problem. And he knows that the mission didn’t hit Pietro too hard, so the kid shouldn’t need to come down after it, which gives Clint a few days’ leeway to lay low.

Except Pietro, true to his catchphrase, continues to be unpredictable.

He finds Clint in the kitchen the next morning while the older man is making coffee. Clint feels the displacement of air that heralds the speedster’s arrival, and greets him with a nod and a mumbled greeting. It’s early - he has an excuse to be incommunicado. 

Pietro’s talking nonstop, but he doesn’t expect responses when he jabbers, so Clint doesn’t focus on him too hard, instead watching the coffee pot slowly fill. In a minute, he’ll be able to retreat to his room, and maybe Pietro will wander off to go train, or bother his sister, or…

Clint feels eyes on him, so he turns to look at Pietro, who’s watching him with an expectant look on his face. Clint frowns, internally chiding himself, because he needs to pay more attention. “What?” he asks, and he can’t hear his own voice, but he’s confident enough in the pitch and volume to talk.

_Are you even listening to me?_ Pietro asks, and Clint watches his lips and grins and shakes his head. The coffee’s done, so he turns to pour it, but when he looks back, Pietro’s expression has changed, going from annoyed to… somewhat less annoyed. 

And then he signs. 

Pietro taps his ear twice, and then his chest, and Clint just stares because it’s a simple sign, just a _can you hear me?_ , but it’s unexpected and startling. He doesn’t answer, too shocked to move, so Pietro repeats the signs again, eyes fixed on Clint’s.

Finally, Clint shakes his head, bringing his first three fingers together in front of him for the sign for _no_. And then quickly, out of habit, he signs _sorry_ and watches as Pietro’s eyebrows draw together.

The next few motion are stilted, and they don’t come fast or smooth, but Pietro manages to tell him not to be sorry. Nat’s name is the sign for a spider when he tells Clint that she taught him some, and Bucky, who apparently ratted him out, is a raccoon. That makes Clint laugh, out loud, and the sound makes Pietro grin broadly. 

Something settles in Clint’s chest as he realizes he can still understand Pietro, even when he can’t hear.

* * *

The team is watching TV. Pietro is sprawled over Clint’s lap, asleep, and Clint is watching him, the gentle flutter of his eyelashes, the rise and fall of his chest. He doesn’t have the sound of the TV to distract him, or Tony’s running commentary, so he can focus on every strand of silver hair as it slips through his fingers. It’s intimate, even though they’re not alone. It’s not a scene, and it’s not recovery from a scene - it’s just them, cuddling, like couples do.

And maybe it hits Clint then that they are actually together, because it’s Friday night and they’re with their friends ands there’s no power exchange, no dominance component, but he’s still content and satisfied and there’s a soft swell of emotion in his chest.

Pietro cuddles in a little closer, and Clint feels the soft hum that escapes his lips as he gets more comfortable.

* * *

Pietro’s eyes are wide, his lips kiss-swollen and wet, and half of Clint wishes he could hear the pretty sounds that he _knows_ are filling the air, but the other half is glad he’s not distracted, because he’s got one goal in mind, and that goal is to overload Pietro with as much pleasure as he possibly can.

The kid’s hands are tied to the headboard with a blue silk scarf. It’s all decorative - Pietro could slip out any time he wanted to - but Clint told him not to pull at the beginning of the scene and Pietro, like always, is obeying beautifully. Other than the silk, he’s naked, sweat glistening in the hollow of his throat and muscles tense. 

Clint smiles and licks around the head of Pietro’s cock, relishing in the twitchy jerks he gets in response. It’s not enough stimulation to get the kid off, but it is enough to keep him hard and wanting and straining upwards, trying to get into the tight heat of Clint’s mouth. 

Their new safeword is a tap to Clint’s ribs. But Pietro’s feet are pressed into the mattress as leverage as he tries to thrust upwards, and they haven’t moved, and Clint knows him well enough by now that he doesn’t press any limits, on purpose or accidentally. 

He hums with his lips sealed around the head of Pietro’s cock, and he _feels_ the vibrations of Pietro’s cry in the air around him. He’s content in a way he hasn’t been in a long time, and for once, he’s _glad_ that someone found out about his disability.

* * *

Sometimes, even months after the incident, Pietro reaches up with a questioning look on his face, and Clint gladly slips his hearing aids out and sets them on the bedside table. And Pietro, when his hands are free, shakily signs fragments about love while Clint takes him down to where he needs to be.

**Author's Note:**

> It's short, I know. I know. But I'm trying to get back into the groove of writing and nothing motivates me like feedback so... the next installation is going to be very heavy and angst and likely very long, so enjoy this now!!


End file.
